Eurogame
First off, we need a good definition and description as to what a Eurogame is. Taking from Wikipedia directly:
“A Eurogame, also called a German-style board game, German game, or Euro-style game, is a class of tabletop games that generally has indirect player interaction and abstract physical components. Eurogames are sometimes contrasted with American-style board games, which generally involve more luck, conflict, and drama. They are usually less abstract than chess or Go, but more abstract than wargame. Likewise, they generally require more thought and planning than party games such as Pictionary or Trivial Pursuit.”
Characteristics: “Eurogames tend to be focused on economics and the acquisition of resources rather than direct conflict, and have a limited amount of luck They also differ from abstract strategy games like chess by using themes tied to specific locales, and emphasize individual development and comparative achievement rather than direct conflict. Eurogames also emphasize the mechanical challenges of their systems over having the systems match the theme of the game.”
This is one of our favorite genres of games to play. It would not surprise me if our personal collection is made up of at least 25%- 50% Eurogames. One thing to note is that with how broad this genre is, most games do cross over into multiple genres and sub-categories of games. So based on all this information, how do we select which game would be our gateway into this genre. With much debate, the game we decided on is one that my non-gaming father is willing to play, Ticket to Ride by Days of Wonder.
We picked this game because it fits nicely with indirect player interactions (building your own route), economics (victory points based on completed tickets), acquisition of resources (drawing the cards you need to lay “track,” and themes based on locales (each version is geography based). If you start with the base game to learn with, the other versions of the game with added mechanics is easy enough to pick up.
I do have to admit that I am biased as to which version is my favorite; Ticket to Ride: Märklin is the special edition Germany map that helps me feel close to my heritage. I am a proud German-American and love this map.
Here are the weights of a few of the games in the series:
Ticket to Ride - Weight 1.85/5
Ticket to Ride: Germany - Weight 1.77/5
Ticket to Ride: Europe - Weight 1.94/5
Ticket to Ride: Märklin - Weight 2.24/5
Ticket to Ride: Rails & Sails - Weight 2.57/5
Legacy
“A legacy game is a variant of tabletop board games in which the game itself is designed, through various mechanics, to change permanently over the course of a series of sessions.” (Wikipedia)
Most legacy games are designed to be played with the same gaming group over a period of time to complete a campaign since you will, often times, build upon a character or a specific area you control. The legacy game that we selected is one in which you can change who is playing as you advance in the game (even though it is nice to play with the same people in the progression of the game) because it is the character selection that I feel matters the most in helping with a successful game. The game is Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 by Z-Man Games.
If you have never played Pandemic before, the rules do state that you can play it without using the legacy rules before diving into the legacy aspect of the game. Plus after you have completed playing the legacy campaigns, you can play the game normally (just have to ignore some of the stickers on the board). That is a huge plus in our books because a lot of the other legacy games you have to purchase a “recharge pack” and/or a new game board to use it again. Did I also mention that the game is a co-operative game as well? You work together as a team to fight off the viruses and the pandemic.
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 - Weight 2.84/5
Social Deduction
Wikipedia defines this genre as “a game in which players attempt to uncover each other's hidden role or team allegiance. Commonly, these games are played with teams, with one team being considered "good" and another being "bad." During gameplay, players can use logic and deductive reasoning to try to deduce one another's roles, while other players can bluff to keep players from suspecting them.”
I personally love this genre of game because most requires more than just two players to play so that means…. GAME NIGHTS!!!!
What game do I suggest to you to get into social deduction games? Love Letter by Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG).
From the publisher:
Love Letter is a game of risk, deduction, and luck for 2–4 players. Your goal is to get your love letter into Princess Annette's hands while deflecting the letters from competing suitors. From a deck with only sixteen cards, each player starts with only one card in hand; one card is removed from play. On a turn, you draw one card, and play one card, trying to expose others and knock them from the game. Powerful cards lead to early gains, but make you a target. Rely on weaker cards for too long, however, and your letter may be tossed in the fire!
We love this game because of the simple and fast game play. Since cards are public knowledge (minus one hidden card) and because each player knows how many of each card there is, you can count to see how many of each is left and deduct what possible card(s) your opponent(s) hold.
When playing against my wife, I typically win once in a blue moon. When I play online, I can win about 50% of the time. Even though I keep losing, it is a fun game that is our go to when we want a quick game. For a two player game, my wife and I can finish a “drawn-out” (6-7 score) within a 20 minute period. As you can see with the weight of the game below, it is very easy to learn and pick up.
Love Letter- Weight 1.19/5
Worker Placement
Now comes a category that is very, very, very hard to decide on. To be completely honest we do not have just a single game that we would consider as our go-to introductory worker placement game. Yes, there are games like Carcassonne, Everdell, & Lost Ruins of Arnak (one of our newest worker placement games) that are fun to play but we use these games mainly to teach other mechanics.
When it comes to worker placement games, we typically focus on teaching games from other genres and/or other mechanics first but if the game is also a worker placement, it is an added bonus but not one whose focus is To someone who is new to board games we find that the worker placement is a harder concept to grasp for most. Most worker placement games that relies more on placing pieces for resources are rated at 2.5/5 of higher.
What are some of your favorite worker placement games?
Find your passion
We have a large collections of games because, well, we love games. We love being able to teach others new games and share the passion we have. We love being able bring others together to help find ways to grow closer to family and friends. We encourage each of you to find your passion and share it with others, whether it be gaming, cooking, crafts, or other things; share what you love because you never know who can benefit from it to make their day brighter.
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